Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are becoming more advanced worldwide. Currently, WWTPs are not considered waste disposal facilities. On the contrary, they can be associated with resource recovery. However, the wastewater treatment industry faces many challenges including increasing energy costs, the presence of refractory micropollutants in the wastewater, finite resources, water conservation, and more stringent regulations. The proposed research is a step forward to achieve our long-term vision of resource recovery and reuse of treated municipal effluents by developing a catalytic oxidation treatment strategy that combines simultaneous adsorption and oxidation. To achieve this goal, the following short-term objectives have been established: (1) develop new materials with greater selective affinity towards selected pollutants that can be used as adsorbents, catalysts, or support materials; (2) investigate the impact of selected catalysts on the performance and on the removal mechanisms of persulfate-, ozone-, and oxone/ozone-based advanced oxidation processes (AOPs); (3) evaluate the performance of catalytic oxidation in terms of biodegradability, toxicity reduction, and micropollutant removal; and (4) assess the reusability of the adsorbents/catalysts, investigate their regeneration, and maximize the resource recovery. The long-term objectives are: (1) produce treated wastewater that will meet more stringent standards for safe release and/or reuse; (2) improve the knowledge of wastewater management as a vital element for the sustainable development of Alberta; (3) integrate the achieved knowledge into actual wastewater management options by the WWTPs; and (4) train the next generation of highly skilled personnel with the finest educational opportunities in the area of advanced municipal wastewater treatment for the ultimate goals of water reuse and resource recovery. The novelty and potential for breakthrough innovation of this research program include: (1) application of catalytic AOP in municipal wastewater to remove micropollutants not regulated in Canada; (2) in-depth examination of the mechanisms of catalytic AOPs, which are not well understood; (3) utilization of waste material (i.e., sludge) for reclamation purposes; (4) modification of carbon materials for selective removal; and (5) examination of possible resource recovery from carbon-based materials. The proposed research can be directly applied to existing Canadian WWTPs to improve the treatment of secondary effluents, allowing their reuse and/or safe discharge.